Wendy’s making strides to help foster children find permanent families

Since 1992, the Wendy’s restaurant chain has been working to raise adoption awareness through the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. Adopted himself, Dave Thomas knew first-hand the need for adoption awareness, especially today when tens of thousands of teens are aging out of the foster care system in America every year without ever being welcomed by an adoptive family. These teens go into the world and the workforce without a family to call their own. The need for loving families seeking older, or even troubled children is greater than ever. Wendy’s launched a TV commercial to promote its mission to abolish the term “unadoptable.” The Foundation sums up the message in this moving video:

The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption contends that, rather than searching for children to fit adoption-seeking families, caseworkers should find families to fit the children in the foster care system. And their efforts have proven more effective than those of the average caseworker, with children and teens being two to three times more likely to be adopted through caseworkers associated with the Foundation.

Here is a transcript of the video:

There are people who believe that “unadoptable” is a word that describes some children. That some children are too much trouble to get help with their homework. That some children are too old to say ‘Hey Mom, look at me!’ That some children are too sick to get a hug before going to sleep at night. We are not those people. We are the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, and we don’t believe that any child is unadoptable. There are over 400,000 children in the foster care system, and more than 100,000 of them need a family right now. Caseworkers are overloaded, and each year nearly 28,000 children age out of the system without ever finding a family. These children aren’t unadoptable. They just aren’t adopted. That’s why we started Wendy’s Wonderful Kids. Our recruiters take on smaller caseloads so they can really get to know the children. They don’t try to find the right child to fit a family. They find the right family to fit a child. It’s a child-focused approach, and it works. When served by Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, older children and those with emotional challenges are up to 3 times more likely to be adopted. Overall, children in the program are nearly two times more likely to be adopted. That means that they are nearly two times more likely to be helped with their homework, say ‘Hey Mom, look at me!,’ get a hug before they go to sleep at night. We like those odds. At the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, we belive that every child should feel safe; cared for; loved. And we will work every day to make “unadoptable” unacceptable.